2023, animals, Mysteries, Nature, pets

Ginkgo Conundrum

25 Comments

I don’t think of myself as clueless but I will admit that most of the time my brain is going 100 miles an hour and I’m not always as observant as I would wish.   

Dog walking has returned to my schedule now that I’m RE-retired. We normally go for 45 minutes to an hour.  I tend to wander around Tangletown or towards Lake Harriet; I like the neighborhoods and I don’t think Guinevere cares where we go as long as we go.  So if you count all the walking we did during pandemic/furlough as well, we’ve probably trekked down Belmont Avenue 50 times in the last couple of years.  But it wasn’t until last week that I noticed the ginkgo leaves on the sidewalks.  The first one I noted, the second one I noted and after the third one, I looked up and down the street.  With few exceptions, all the boulevard trees from 51st all the way to Minnehaha Parkway are ginkgos.  And they are big, sturdy trees – obviously planted decades ago.  Just lovely.

I did a little bit of research and found that the city has always controlled the boulevard trees but I can’t find anything on why this particular stretch was planted with ginkgos.  The current policy, thanks to Dutch Elm disease and the Emerald Ash Borer, is to diversify trees on the boulevards so going forward I doubt any replacement trees on Belmont will be gingkos, although if it were my boulevard, I might petition hard to get a gingko replacement!

How should I focus so I can be more observant?

25 thoughts on “Ginkgo Conundrum”

  2. Since the devastation of Dutch Elm disease and well before the onset of Emerald Ash Borer, if one judges by the size of the replacement trees, the city has made it a practice to diversify the boulevard plantings. Those original replacements generally vary block by block so we see blocks planted in hackberry, in maple, in linden, in swamp white oak, in river birch, in honey locust and on 42nd Street near the river the boulevard is planted in ginkgo. Not every tree the city chooses is a good one in my opinion. Occasionally I see an isolated catalpa tree planted as a replacement. Given that catalpas are exceedingly messy I question their suitability.

    All I can offer, if you are really intent on becoming more observant is to try to shift your internal dialog which, as you say, is going 100 miles an hour to an external one wherein you are intent on gathering new information and making new connections and associations. You already do that in some measure as evidenced by past posts on the Trail. Just do it more

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Yes, when we lived at 51st and York Ave. So., they were replacing the downed elms with ginkgos, which I think are lovely. Here we do have a swamp white oak on the boulevard, and I wonder if the city put that in…

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  3. If you learn how, please let me know. I need the same brain training.

    I love ginkgo trees; love the leathery, fan-shaped leaves.

    It was so nice to spend Saturday afternoon with Linda and Donna at Rock Bend!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

      2. She seemed well. Linda might have talked with her more than I did. I had a hard time remembering her right away, but later I remembered her clearly. Her posts were hilarious. I encouraged her to come back. She gave a definite maybe.

        Like

        Reply

  5. Rise and Focus, Baboons,

    I have spent years teaching the answer to your question. Here are the basics:

    1. Set aside 10-15 minutes per day to practice.
    2. Observe your attention for a period of time (say a week). Are you distracted by internal events (a thought, feeling, or memory) or external stimuli (a bird, cars, somebody else wants something)?
    3. When you decide external or internal, then practice focusing on the opposite one.
    4. Sit for a time each day and just label experiences, i.e. thought, feeling, memory, sad, happy, funny, then let it go and move on to the next thing your brain does.
    5. Increase the time you do this a bit every day. Put the cell phone away.

    PS, the average adult human attention span is 20 minutes. Then to sustain a task you must take a break, then re-focus on the task you want to do. This does not need to be elaborate, i.e. Stand up, stretch, sit back down. (That is a primary concept needed to create adult education curriculae).

    I have to go walk the dog. We will be chasing squirrels and shiny things a long the way. Her attention span is about 30 seconds long.

    Liked by 6 people

    Reply

  7. Look Through Any Window.
    Mixed messages in this song and odd video. I do not recommend being a Peeping Sherrilee. Look through your OWN windows. As to the video, the NFL “referees” have been shown to be blind calling Minnesota Vikings games.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  9. The one I keep running into is the advice to Stop and Breathe – kind of like the anger management tool to take some deep breaths to calm you down, but in this case to help you focus. Of course, it only lasts for a few seconds before the “monkey mind” gets in there to distract me.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  11. I am going through counseling for coping with stress and anxiety which includes lots of breathing and attempts at meditation but my A.D.D.always wins. I have an interesting website to use. I will give the address in a minute.
    Clyde

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. It is called Insight Timer. Much of it goes way too far for me. It has courses you buy. A few that are free. I have set up the timer for different sounds (bells) to change my focus in my exercises

      Liked by 4 people

      Reply

    3. I took Klonopin for about half a year for anxiety after a traumatic workplace accident. It helped but I wasn’t satisfied so I started using alternating warm and cool compresses on my forehead. Now I keep a one ounce bottle of lavender oil close by. Just sniffing the aroma calms me down. All purely anecdotal from Wesley University School of Medicine.

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

Leave a comment